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Edwynn -> RE: GB Looking To Privatize Medicine (2/22/2012 3:16:46 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: LookieNoNookie
quote:
ORIGINAL: Edwynn
You make the mistake of assessing the motivation of all countries and/or their governments through the narrow slit of prototypically 'self-interest=max money grabbing' US estimation of all things. In matters of health care, financial and other industry regulation, progressive taxation, parental leave, higher education, and a host of other aspects, European countries especially show some indication that they actually give a shit about their own citizens, and that the concept of economic well being includes the population as a whole in that consideration, as opposed to the proto-darwinistic free-for-all as exists in the states.
The developed economies are not moving to socialized medicine, they are already there, and have been for awhile. Of the 34 OECD countries, the US, Chile, Mexico, and Turkey are the four without universal health care. Fine company we are in, there.
The US spends 17.4% of GDP on health care; the next nearest, Netherlands, spends 12% of GDP. So the US spends 42% more of its GDP on health care than the next nearest country. That is a quite substantial difference. After all that, the US ranks lower than several countries in various measures of both overall health and quality of treatment.
In terms of both social benefit and economic cost/benefit analysis, universal health care is conspicuously more successful.
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/24/8/49084488.pdf
Excellent points, but you allude to an assumption, that being that other govt's. are beneficent in their taxation and it is generally true that most other countries have lower federal income tax rates than the US (but for a few), but consider their fuel taxes: 10 bucks US for a gallon of gas?
As far as I can tell, with the exception of Germany....ain't a whole lot of freeways being built over there.
Where dat money goin'?
Dat money goin' for various social benefits to society, like super kick-ass public transportation and rail systems. It's called the modern world, which this country sits and stares at like the saliva drooling cretin child it is. ExxonMobile is our daddy, and we lubs him so bery much.
Things like parental leave that allows mom to keep her job while both mom and dad get to spend more time with the kids until school age. In the US, plop them in daycare at 6 weeks and be done with it. Things like not having to chase around for the health insurance company that does not take more out of your pay check than the government does, then send you on a circle jerk tour when you actually need the service. Things like free or minimal cost higher education, because they are aware of the human capital constituent of the technological advancement component of the Solow economic growth model. They do not induce welfare recipients to work at the exclusion of job training to better personal worth.
That is, for all appearances, they walk like, talk like, even quack like modern world developed economies. The US is just sitting here in the mud and screaming like a banshee about birth control coverage and how much more tax money we can give to Exxon Mobile and the Koch Bros. and Monsanto. Oh yeah, and write in a couple of adjustments to banking laws that require them to spray a bit of odor reducing disinfectant before they lay another one of their ghastly farts into the room again. Which they will in another few years, because well, the old unfettered free markets thing and all that. Done us a world of good so far, eh?
In any event a host of other things are in the Euromachina that all add up to both health statistics and economic measures rating like a modern developed economy, as opposed to the near-third world status in both departments in the US. Europe has these quaint notions of the economy as being in service to society, resulting in these quaint and anachronistic positive indicators such as positive net savings, positive balance of payments, lower national debt as % of GDP, lower infant mortality rate, much lower per capita prison population, things like that.
Guess that 'corporations are more efficient than government' mantra just got all shot to shit, huh?
Actually, it's just that the US forgot to take the corporations out of the government first, before we venture into making the comparison.
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